Fuel canister and blockage pin fabrication for SLSF Experiment P4

As part of its fast breeder reactor safety research program, Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) has conducted an experiment (SLSF Experiment P4) to determine the extent of fuel-failure propagation resulting from the release of molten fuel from one or more heat-generating fuel canisters. The test conditions consisted of 37 full-length FTR fuel pins operating at FTR rated core nominal peak fuel/reduced coolant conditions. Thirty-four of the the fuel pins were prototypical FTR mixed-oxide fuel pins. The other three fuel pins were fabricated with a mid-core section having an enlarged canister containing fully enriched UO2. Two of the canisters were cylindrical and one was fluted. The cylindrical canisters were designed to fail and release molten fuel into the 37-pin fuel cluster at near full power